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Let There Be Towns Spanish Municipal Origins in the American Southwest, 1610–1810 by Gilbert R. Cruz Foreword by Donald C. Cutter |
Presidio La Bahía Award,
Border Regional Library Association Award,
and the San Antonio Conservation Society Citation
Let There Be Towns presents the origins and contributions of six of the early settlements of New Spain: San Antonio and Laredo in Spanish Texas, Santa Fe and El Paso in Nuevo Mexico, and San Jose and Los Angeles in Alta California. Historian Gilbert R. Cruz carefully assesses their importance as part of the Spanish government’s policy for implanting in North America the linguistic, social, religious, and political values of the crown.
Three organizational pillars supported Spain’s policy for colonization: the presidio, the mission, and the civil settlement. Although the first two have thrived in the popular imagination and scholarly circles, the third, less studied and less understood, has actually survived. The institutions of Spanish colonial towns continue to exist in the traditions of local self-governance and the distinctive cultural and social patterns of the Southwest.
"An especially notable chapter focuses on the cabildo (town council). Here Cruz examines in depth the organization, functions, and persistence of the institution at Santa Fe and San Fernando de Béxar (San Antonio). His intensive manuscript research and analysis of this body make the chapter one of the book’s strongest contributions." —Oakah L. Jones, American Historical Review
GILBERT R. CRUZ received a Ph.D. in American history from St. Louis University. He has published extensively and was on the history faculty at Glendale Community College in Arizona until his retirement. He currently lives in San Antonio.
Let There Be Towns
ISBN 0-89096-677-X paper $16.95
LC 87-33553. 6x9. 256 pp. 17 b&w illus.
6 line drawings. 8 maps. App. Bib. Index.
Western History. Borderlands Studies.
Publication Date: August 1996.
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